


Valentine's Courtship

by KingpinCobblepot (Theonlylucysaxon)



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: I inherited this ship, M/M, Season 4 set, Valentine's Day inspired, Work In Progress, and I don't love it, but then why can't I stop writing for it?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-05
Updated: 2019-03-05
Packaged: 2019-11-12 11:30:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18010118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theonlylucysaxon/pseuds/KingpinCobblepot
Summary: Mr. Penn finally decides to tell Oswald how he feels. So he plans a romantic Valentine's day dinner. Will it work out the way he anticipates? Or does fate have other plans?Set in season 4, when food was bountiful, Oswald was in charge, and Arthur Penn had barely any screen time and still managed to snag my heart. XD





	Valentine's Courtship

**Author's Note:**

  * For [horrorriz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/horrorriz/gifts), [Spacey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spacey/gifts).



> I wanted this to be a one shot, but I'm taking such a long time working on the next part of it and I can't deny you all this first part of a fic I very very much intend to finish <3

Arthur Penn was a small man. He had always been small in fact. And long ago he had given up he delusion of ever being anything more or anything less. He accepted it, much in the same way a death row inmate can come to terms with his sentencing over time. He knew he was small, weak, feeble and that these qualities would forever rule his life and keep him from truly being a man of power. It was without question or doubt. 

Then he met Oswald Cobblepot. 

In the beginning, he saw him in passing meetings. The umbrella boy to Fish Mooney. A good twenty years younger than him, and nearly the same height. He was stronger. Penn could clearly see that, but in many other-- most other ways, he imagined the handsome young man to be just as weak as he. Just as devastatingly ineffectual. He felt bad for him and also felt guilty for noticing just how attractive he found the man nearly young enough to be his son. He ignored the notions, even as Oswald rose through the ranks. Earned a seat at the table and the respect or fear of others. But never Arthur Penn. He had no fear or respect for Oswald. He had sheer, unadulterated AWE. He was enamoured with the man. He read about his exploits in the papers. He delighted in seeing even Carmine Falcone fall to this stunning, impossibly clever, small like himself man. It gave him hope in a way Mr. Penn had long ago accepted he would never feel hope. 

Oswald gave him hope. 

And the days would tick by in his employ, where the quiet and ineffectual man kept the books, counted the money, wrote the paychecks and all around him seemed both eternally altered by the fact he now worked for Mr. Cobblepot-- and yet also remarkably the same. Nothing was really different. He wasn’t different. He felt braver for the hope afforded him, but he had done nothing with it. Arthur Penn decided somewhere in the midst of his frustration, on one of those monotonous days of doing his job and little else as usual, to take charge for once. To make a move he had long fought the idea of making. Oswald was older than he had been in the beginning of the bookkeeper’s infatuation. In his mid… Or maybe even late thirties. He was still much younger than Arthur, and far more strapping-- but he also had been rejected by that tall man who worked for him. Penn tried to avoid thinking of him. 

The Riddler had managed to be the first real object of the man’s envy and hate all at once. He was loved by Oswald. And he had embraced all of the terrible things of which Mr. Cobblepot were capable. He had embraced all of him as Oswald deserved and for that tinge of envy in wanting to be him, a part of Mr. Arthur Penn felt sincerely and truly happy to know Mr. Cobblepot might have found real love. He deserved it. He deserved happiness. 

Yet happiness was far from what he got. 

And for this, for the way Edward Nygma, the notorious criminal now known as the Riddler ruined Oswald, Arthur Penn hated him. In equal measure with the envy of how fixated Oswald could be with him. It truly felt perhaps the cruelest of things that a man so certain his stature would always be held against him romantically was given hope by falling for a man similar to him in height, only to have such hope dashed by said object of affections chasing after some six foot tall monstrosity of legs and limbs and cruelty. Oswald deserved better than him. Oswald deserved better than anyone. He deserved to be adored. Worshipped. Wooed. Courted. 

That was what the old fashioned Mr. Penn wanted to do for Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot.

He had every intention of courting him, and why not begin such endeavors with Valentines day? 

\--

He began with finishing the bookkeeping early. He came into work 2 hours earlier in the morning to begin his day and worked through the forty five minute two meal breaks he tended to take-- breakfast and lunch being eaten at his desk as he often brought them from home. He finished four hours early, and this meant that he had that much time to set up a romantic dinner before Oswald would be expecting their meeting to go over the days money movement. It was Thursday after all. They always discussed that sort of thing on Thursday evenings after all. Typically Mr. Penn came in with nervous steps, fiddling with his tie for twenty minutes in the foyer before Oswald would yell impatiently that he had heard him come in and wanted to get this over with. Arthur understood of course. Mr. Cobblepot was so busy and this meeting came at the end of a day’s work. He wanted the facts and the figures of his empire and then he wanted to retire for the night. 

Mr. Penn never took it personally that he seemed unwanted company. 

On this particular occasion though, he felt certain he could circumvent such an opinion by simply having everything set up before Oswald came home. Being Thursday, he would just be in the middle of a walk through with his foreman in one of the warehouses. He would need two more walk throughs in other warehouses, and then a stop at the club for a drink and a discussion with the manager. He knew his boss’s routine so well, Arthur could almost guess the instant he would be home. And so he went to the task of a romantic Valentine’s meal. 

He made lobster-- a harrowing meal which made him a bit fearful in itself of the live entree, but it would certainly serve to impress Oswald. It was one of the most expensive foods the small man could think to get and on his meager salary, he wanted his employer to understand what he meant with the gesture. How much Oswald meant to him to warrant it. Along with the lobster came the best bottle of wine to pair with it and some lovely sauteed vegetables on the side. It was modest, but also effortful. That sort of thing mattered to Mr. Penn as he arranged the 2 dozen red roses he had bought in the center vase of the table and lit the candles to ensure the dinner was as enticing as he could make it. The atmosphere must be perfect, after all.  
Arthur Penn also went to a profound amount of trouble in ensuring his outfit was just right. He chose one of his typical black suits, a grey patterned shirt beneath and most importantly, in honor of Mr. Cobblepot himself he wore a small royal purple pocket square which matched perfectly to his bowtie. He only hoped the object of his infatuation would see it and understand. Would understand all of this. He was quite giddy about it all. Perhaps Mr. Cobblepot-- perhaps Oswald would ask him to call him Oswald. Perhaps he would compliment his tie. Perhaps he would express shared feelings. Perhaps…… Perhaps…. It was all very very thrilling and nerve wracking and so for now, he was just trying his very very best to keep calm. 

Deep breaths. 

He could do this. He was certain of that. He just needed to remember to keep himself calm. Even if he felt ready to faint. He could do this. For all his many years spent in cowardice, he had finally found something to be brave for. Someone worth being brave for. Oswald Cobblepot would know tonight, without a doubt that he was simply adored. Mr. Penn would ensure it. 

He heard the door open and swallowed roughly. 

Showtime.


End file.
